Fool Me Once
by Eliss Elusive
Summary: Zachary Goode, assassin-in-training, has been given his first assignment. Ordered by the Circle, he sets out to quickly dispose of his target: Cammie Morgan. However, he's unaware of just how difficult his job is going to be. What's more scary: failing the Circle or killing the girl he might just be falling for?
1. Chapter 1

_Quick Note – I've read the first three books, and I'm currently working on the fourth. I'm sorry if some details are off, but keep in mind that this story is AU. Happy reading!_

**Fool Me Once  
****Chapter One**

It was Zachary Goode's first real mission.

Countless times, he'd watched other boys come back to the dorms to find an unmarked manila envelope on their bed. Every student learned what would be in there when their time came – pictures, personal documents, schedules, and anything else that might be of value.

They'd also learned how the first real mission changed a person. Boys came back glassy-eyed and shell-shocked. They'd constantly look over their shoulder and even wake up in the middle of the night screaming.

Their classes conveniently left out the nasty side effects of PTSD.

Someone had once tried to get the curriculum changed. The Circle had laughed at that idea – they didn't need spies; they got them from the _other school_. They needed Blackthorne Institute to produce assassins – calm, heartless, dedicated killers.

Zach had just finished his poison immunity class – far from a favorite among students, it involved being injected with minute amounts of poison until the body built up immunity. If they were lucky, there were only twenty needles waiting for them.

The first lesson they'd learned at Blackthorne was not to rely on luck.

Zach didn't know how he'd expected to feel when his time came. When he saw the envelope resting on his perfectly made bed, he could already feel knots forming in his stomach. With care, he picked up the thin folder and saw that a small circle had been drawn on it.

A mission on behalf of the Circle.

Zach wasn't sure what kind of target the Circle would select for a teenage boy, but he did know one thing.

If he completed this task, he'd become one of them.

The information in his packet – now carefully tucked away in the secret compartment of his backpack – had led him to Roseville, Virginia.

He'd been given relatively few pieces of information. There had been maps and addresses, all pointing towards this small Virginia town. He'd been given a few pictures of the target – a girl about his age named Cameron Morgan.

Not satisfied with the information in the packet, Zach had turned to search engines and government data bases to find out more about her.

Nothing.

Zach wasn't sure if it was relevant, but he did find information on someone named Matthew Morgan – a spy and Blackthorne graduate who'd died nearly three years ago. When he'd tried to delve deeper in the matter, his computer had frozen, a black circle appearing on the screen.

Only people with the highest level of clearance amongst the Circle could view the records.

Zach could have assumed this man was his target's father.

But the second lesson he'd learned at Blackthorne was that making assumptions got people killed.

His backpack was equipped with over twenty things that would never pass through airport security. He had poison in five different forms, six knives, and other multipurpose weapons designed to give him flexibility when it came to taking out his target.

Because the third lesson he'd learned was that once you had a target, they quit existing as a person. They were nothing more than a threat that needed to be eliminated.

Zach had planned his timing perfectly. He left Blackthorne the day of the Roseville Town Fair, hoping the occasion would draw his target out of her private school.

Invading a private boarding school for girls wasn't a probable plan of attack – he hoped this would be a job he could get done in one night. The quicker he could get in and out, the better. It wasn't wise for an assassin to stay in one place for too long.

Perhaps more valuable than the pictures of his target, Zach had been given pictures of three of her friends – a petite girl, another who looked like she belonged in a magazine, and an exotic standout. They'd be easier to spot than his target.

It seemed as though the entire town of Roseville showed up to their small fair. Children went on the rides while adults stood close by, but most teens gathered around the bonfire that was going on in the town square.

Zach knew where he'd find his target.

As he'd assumed, it was her friend he spotted first. The waif of a girl was standing next to the model. Though it had been hard to find two of the girls in any database, it had taken one Google search to identify the model as Macey McHenry.

The other girl was a few feet away, but Zach couldn't spot his target. When the girl started leaving, Zach decided to follow her. Hopefully, she'd lead him right to his target.

The girl took the most roundabout path through the area – passing the rides, looping back to the bonfire, going to get food, and then returning to her friends. There was no sign of the other girl – no evidence to show that she was here.

Until the prickling feeling on the back of his neck told him someone was behind him.

"You want to tell me why you've been following my friend for the last hour?"

No way.

Zach slowly turned around, coming face to face with the girl he'd been looking for. She looked exactly as she had in the pictures he'd gotten of her – dirty blonde hair and pale blue eyes, the kind of face that was easy to forget.

Cameron Morgan.

_Notes: New to the fandom. Reviews are love and inspiration._


	2. Chapter 2

**Fool Me Once  
****Chapter Two**

Zach couldn't believe his target was standing right in front of him.

No, he couldn't believe his target had snuck up on him. Blackthorne boys were trained to be undetectable – after all, if someone saw your face after you killed an important diplomat, you were done.

"Why were you following her?" his target repeated, irritation creeping into her voice.

Denial was always a good starting tactic. "I wasn't following your friend."

She crossed her arms. "You're really going to play that game?"

"What game?" Zach asked. He wondered if he could get away with pulling a poison dart out of his backpack, then mentally reprimanded him for being so careless. If Cameron Morgan turned up dead tomorrow, her friends would suspect the stranger who'd just showed up in town.

Another valuable lesson – assume if something could go wrong, it would go wrong.

"Look, I've had a terrible night. I'd really like to just go home."

It was going to be impossible to get this job done immediately – Zach was going to have to wait for the right moment to come. What he didn't know was what he was supposed to do up until that time. "Well don't let me keep you here," he said.

She glared. "Why were you following my friend?"

"I wasn't following your friend," Zach said coolly, reaching into his pocket. He could have sworn his target tensed.

"Whatever. I have to go," she said, walking past him. Zach stuck his foot out, effectively tripping her and catching her just before she fell.

"Watch your step," he said, pressing a hand on the small of her back. With a smile, he added, "I'd be careful if I was you. There's lots of…" Zach took the moment to dramatically look towards the bonfire, where teenagers were shouting and drinking something a little stronger than pop. "…questionable people around here."

"I can take care of myself. Thanks," she said, quickly moving past him and blending into the crowd.

A classic pavement artist.

Who he'd just managed to bug.

* * *

Zach knew what he'd done was temporary at best. The bug was the size of a pencil head, and it was made to look like a burr. He'd been able to press it onto his target's shirt when he'd helped her get her balance.

These bugs were made for their camouflage properties – not durability. It'd probably go through the wash or get thrown away in a few hours. However, any information he could get up until that point was extremely valuable.

After remaining at the fair for a half hour longer, Zach had gotten into his car and driven a few towns away and checked into a small inn. He used a fake ID and paid with a credit card linked to the same name.

Before doing that, he'd added wrinkle lines to his forehead and temporarily added gray streaks to his hair. It was amazing how with a bit of costume makeup and a change in posture, he could pass for a 30-year-old on a business trip.

Upon entering his room, Zach immediately wanted to power on his laptop and review what his bug had picked up, but Blackthorne had trained him to know better.

First, he checked the room thoroughly for any hidden microphones or cameras. Short of ripping open the mattress, Zach was as certain as he could be that he was safe. To go with his cover, he pulled dress shirts out of his suitcase (formerly stashed in the trunk of his car – also linked to his alias) and hung them up, as well as set out a few pairs of dress pants and fancy shoes.

Next to his car keys, he set pictures of his pseudo family. First, he propped up a picture of himself in case he ever needed to explain why he showed up without his disguise. It was ingenious, really – being able to pose as his cover's son. Next was a digitally altered image of him from six years ago, made to have longer hair and more feminine features – a beautiful daughter.

There were even false records of a divorce in the court system and a woman in West Virginia being paid to back him up. Holes in a story caused suspicion, and that was something an assassin never needed.

After stocking the bathroom, Zach decided he'd done enough. He pulled his laptop out of his bag and powered it on. It took nearly five minutes to enter all the passwords and perform a retinal scan using the computer's webcam – assassins were nothing if not paranoid.

He opened a program called Brutus Unlimited – named after the man who'd assassinated Julius Caesar. On the welcome screen, he clicked an icon labeled _Bug 1_. There were already over two hours of audio; his touch had activated the device.

"I'd be careful if I was you. There's lots of…questionable people around here."

"I can take care of myself. Thanks."

The audio wasn't the clearest he'd ever heard, but he knew the device wasn't flawless. If he could figure out where she lived and when she'd be gone, he'd be able to set up much better devices. That was assuming such drastic action became necessary.

"You're late," a distinctly male voice said.

"I had to help Bex lose a tail."

Bex. Zach immediately associated the name with the picture he'd seen in his envelope.

Zach was easily able to fast forward through half an hour of audio. Presumably, his target had been sitting in a car with the microphone pressed against her seat. All he could hear was static and the occasional muffled word.

Nothing of value was observed until about half an hour before real time. Zach opened up a word document and began a record of the conversation, calling the voices Target, Girl 1, Girl 2, and Girl 3 until he could identify names for the voices.

Target: And then he told me to be careful and just gave me this weird smile.

Girl 1: But what exactly did he say?

Girl 2: It doesn't matter. He was obviously flirting with her.

Girl 3: Whatever, Macey. If he was flirting with Cammie, then why was he stalking me?

_Notes: Girl 2 identified as Macey McHenry. Girl 3 identified as Bex. The target, formerly known as Cameron, prefers to be called Cammie. _

Target: He wasn't flirting.

Macey: Sounds like it.

Bex: Guys, focus. Who cares if he was flirting with her? He was stalking me.

Girl 1: It's weird that you were followed on the day we were supposed to be learning counter surveillance. Do you think Mr. Solomon hired him?

Macey: You're being paranoid, Liz.

_Notes: Girl 1 identified as Liz, presumably the target's third friend. The male voice heard before tentatively identified as Mr. Solomon. _

Target: No, she's not. It is weird.

Bex: Did he realize you were following him?

Macey: Of course he didn't. Cammie's the best pavement artist here. Even Mr. Smith didn't notice when she followed him.

Liz: I think we should let Cammie-

Target: He didn't know. But something's off about him. Who shows up to the town fair with a backpack crammed full of stuff? He wouldn't admit he'd been tailing Bex.

Macey: Now you're being paranoid, too. He probably just wanted to talk to Bex and ended up flirting with you. No wonder they don't let you girls into the real world that often.

Liz: What's that supposed to mean?

Macey: It means you need to quit working on your stupid boy decoder and read a few more _17_ magazines. Then you'd know the difference between flirting and-

Bex: Hey, Cammie. You've got something on your shirt. Let me…

_End audio._

Zach tried not to feel frustrated. He knew he shouldn't have hoped for much more, but he was still disappointed that he'd hardly learned anything. Wanting to at least have something to show for his first day, he opened up the database feature on Brutus Unlimited.

When you only had a last name, it was hard to find records of any value. Mr. Smith was probably a hopeless cause – the last name screamed of someone who didn't want to be found. Solomon wasn't much better of a lead, especially once you calculated all the variations in spelling.

Opting for an advanced search, Zach typed the last name Solomon and narrowed the criteria to males with some tie to Virginia. He was making assumptions and pressing his luck – two things they'd learned at Blackthorne to do with caution.

There were over 500 results. Adding the criteria of _language – English _weeded out only 16 entries. He upped the dates to exclude deceased people, which still left him with a total of 200 people.

Desperate, Zach refined the location to only show people with some connection to Roseville. The results went down to five people. There was no way to determine which of the five was the Mr. Solomon the girls had been talking about, but Zach had a hunch it might have been the one with a small black circle next to his name.

A member of the Circle.

Brutus Unlimited was a program developed by the Circle. Of course they'd keep a list of who was out in the world doing their work. Zach clicked on Joseph Solomon, adding the necessary clearance codes in order to view the record.

JOSEPH ANTHONY SOLOMON – LIMITED ACCESS PROFILE. The words were on the top of the screen in bold, letting Zach know that there were more records available, but he didn't have the authorization to view them.

There was a date of birth and links to his parents' records, as well as records of his schooling.

Blackthorne Institute. Zach didn't let the information surprise him. Plenty of people had received training from his school.

CURRENT INFORMATION: Working at Gallagher Academy in _Roseville, Virginia_.

Zach knew he wasn't supposed to believe in getting lucky, but he could at least make tentative assumptions. He turned on his webcam and began his first video entry – something they learned to do at Blackthorne in case anything happened to them while they were on a mission.

"Zachary Goode, Blackthorne student. Mission day one. The current time is 9:54 PM, and I'm at the Country Motel in Treyton, Virginia. I have found and identified my target – Cameron Morgan, also known as Cammie. Identified by her friends as a pavement artist, she shows above average stealth abilities. From here on out, everything I say is pure speculating based on evidence obtained. The target attends Gallagher Academy here in Roseville. Her teacher, Joseph Solomon, is a former Blackthorne student and member of the Circle. My plan for the next few days is to find a way to get close to Solomon and obtain more information about the target before finding the way best to eliminate her. Zachary Goode, ending video log."

Zach put his computer in cover mode. The laptop that was worth thousands of dollars was instantly transformed into the computer of a businessman, complete with files, Internet search histories, and a background of his two children.

Assassins always slept with one eye open, but in an unfamiliar place with none of the people he'd come to trust, Zach wasn't sure he got more than a few minutes of light sleep in.

It was going to be a long day tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Fool Me Once  
****Chapter Three**

_"Zachary Goode, Blackthorne student. Mission day two. The current time is 11:30 PM, and I'm at the Country Motel in Treyton, Virginia. Today was, well, interesting…"_

* * *

Zach's day started with reapplying his disguise, cramming his weapons into his briefcase, stopping for breakfast in the hotel lobby, and driving to Roseville. Before he got there, he stopped at a campground – restaurants and gas stations had cameras – and showered before changing out of his costume. He switched everything to his backpack and left his car at the campground, taking a taxi the rest of the way.

Before leaving, he'd looked up Gallagher Academy. The website was generic, going on about the prestigious all-girls school founded by Gillian Gallagher. For some reason, the name had sounded familiar, but Zach couldn't place it.

Part of Blackthorne's curriculum was a class called Places and People, often abbreviated to P&P. Starting when they first came to Blackthorne, students memorized the names and faces of thousands of important people worldwide, as well as their families, friends, and wait staff. In their business, it was all about knowing people, or at least pretending to.

As they'd been told, it was easier to sneak into British security and take out the prime minister if you were pretending to be his butler. And the easiest way to do that was to make sure the real man was disposed of while you took on his identity for the night.

Zach didn't think the strategy really applied to his current situation. But at any rate, if Gillian Gallagher didn't immediately have a face associated with her, she probably just sounded similar to another person he knew.

Getting into Gallagher Academy was going to be slightly more difficult than he'd originally thought. The website had also boasted about the school's state of the art security system. It wasn't the kind of place you could just walk up to the door and ask for a tour.

At least that had been Zach's first impression.

The town of Roseville seemed small, and the people here were undoubtedly close. If Zach showed up too much, people would start to get suspicious. A problem he could easily avoid – he'd packed enough to create at least twenty different looks for himself.

Zach was almost nailed by a car driving on the wrong side of the road when he got out of the taxi. A sticker reading _student driver_ was placed on the driver's side door.

Students out driving during the school day? Something didn't seem right to Zach.

A few blocks down the road, the car pulled over – still on the wrong side of the road, Zach noted. The girl he'd been following the previous night – Bex – got out of the car and slammed the door. "God, Madame Dabney. I was doing just fine!" she said with a heavy British accent.

That explained why she'd been driving on the wrong side of the road.

Three other girls got out of the car – his target and her two friends. Zach couldn't believe his luck.

He debated the pros and cons of approaching her before looking back to the girls and seeing his target had disappeared.

Damn. He was going to have to get better.

"Cammie was feeling sick," said the tiny blonde girl with a slight southern accent – Liz. "She went to the pharmacy to grab something."

Their teacher sighed. "I think we all need a few minutes of fresh air. Be back here in fifteen minutes, girls. We'll go through how to handle uncontrolled intersections."

Before Zach could decide whether or not to leave the scene, his target's friend was on top of him – Macey McHenry, the rich heiress. Not wasting time, she immediately jumped straight to the point. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, do I know you?" Zach asked, scanning the street for his target.

"You probably didn't notice me last night when you were tailing my friend."

Zach noted the website hadn't been lying when they advertised a close-knit sisterhood. "Are all Gallagher girls this paranoid?"

"How do you know we go to Gallagher Academy?"

Zach pointed on her shirt, where the logo of her school was clearly printed. "I saw it on the car when you friend almost hit me, too."

"Yeah, well what are you doing out of school?"

Zach didn't get to answer, because right then his target appeared next to her friend. "What's going on, Macey?" she asked.

"You're the super…_student_; you figure out what he's doing here," Macey said. Something about the way she said student told Zach it hadn't been the word she'd wanted to use. "I'm going to get something to eat."

Once Macey had left, his target focused the full force of her gaze on him. "She's been a bit tense since she found out her dad's considering running for office."

"You don't say."

"It's funny seeing you here again today," she said.

"Small town."

"I've never seen you before."

"Maybe you need to get out more," Zach challenged, a plan forming in his brain.

"I get out enough," his target defended. Zach could have sworn he'd struck a nerve.

"Then meet me at the town square tonight at ten. Unless that school of yours keeps you locked up all night?" he asked.

"Not a problem," she said confidently.

There was just one more thing. "Will your friends be there?"

"Does it matter?"

"Incredibly so." Zach gave her a half-smile. He wished that in all the lessons Blackthorne taught them, there'd been at least one on how to seduce a teenage girl.

"They'll be there. I don't think I trust you."

Zach was impressed with the way she was blatantly honest with him. Unfortunately, he couldn't help but be less than truthful with her. "Then I'll meet you there, Gallagher Girl."

"My name's Cammie."

He knew. "Zach."

* * *

At 9:30, Zach took a seat at a booth in a restaurant with a perfect view of the town square. He ordered coffee and pretended to be interested in reading a newspaper. If his target looked across the street and saw him, she'd see a college-aged man with a mop of blonde hair and thick glasses.

There was no such thing as too careful.

At 9:45, his target arrived with her three friends. Zach wondered how they'd gotten out. They talked for a few minutes before splitting up, the three girls disappearing out of sight.

Zach waited a few minutes before paying for his coffee and leaving. He got into his car and drove off, stopping a few miles from Gallagher Academy. If four teenage girls had gotten out, there had to be a way for a highly trained operative to sneak in.

It turned out to be easier than he'd thought. Once he got nearer to Gallagher Academy, he saw four sets of footprints leading off the road, as well as a stretch of forest that seemed like it had been walked through.

Zach followed the footprints up until where they ended – a large oak tree. He looked around for anything he might have missed.

Nothing.

In frustration, he slammed his fist against the tree. The sound echoed.

Echoed?

Zach felt all over the tree, eventually stopping when his hand found a knotted piece of bark. He pulled, and to his surprise, the tree trunk swung open like a door.

Inside was a ladder and a flashlight. He should have found this odd, but his training had prepared him for stranger things. This was probably just some old underground railroad, and the entrance had been added at some point over time.

Judging by the fact that the flashlight had been left on, this probably led directly to the Gallagher Academy.

It was a short walk, but Zach found the silence eerie. The dim light cast shadows everywhere, and several times he was sure he heard the sound of his target and her friends from behind him.

When Zach eventually reached a door, he turned the flashlight off and pressed his ear to the solid wood. He couldn't hear anything, and no light shone through the crack at the bottom of the door. He realized he had no idea where his target's room was, but chances were he wouldn't get another chance like this.

He slipped out of the door, carefully closing it behind him. It looked like he was behind a large tapestry. He took note of the exact position of the door and made sure he could open it again before slowly creeping out.

Even in the darkness, he could tell the school was old, as well as expensively decorated. Stained glass windows were above the main entrance, and countless artifacts were set out in display cases. He couldn't waste time examining the architecture and design now, though. He had a mission.

Having no better idea, he crept up a winding staircase and went through a couple hallways. Twice, he heard the sounds of girls giggling and immediately blended into the shadows as students walked by in their pajamas.

"…but Liz isn't in her room. We have a huge text with Mr. Moscowitz tomorrow, and I'm completely lost!" a girl said loudly to her friend as she walked by. "I guess I should just get some sleep."

Out late looking for their friends? Zach followed the two girls, stopping once they came to a hallway that branched off into several doors – similar to the layout of a hotel. The two girls entered one room, leaving Zach to guess what room belonged to his target.

It turned out to be simpler than he'd imagined. Pressing an ear to each door, he could hear girls talking about clothing, or makeup, or the big test they had coming up. The door at the end of the hallway was dead silent.

Zach opened the door, surprised by the fact that it wasn't even locked. He didn't waste time searching the room – he could only guess how long it'd be before his target would realize he wasn't going to show up.

He dumped the contents of his backpack on the floor, quickly installing cameras, microphones, trackers, computer spyware, and every other piece of technology he had at his disposal in the room. It took him less than a minute to set everything up.

It would take him a few minutes to get out of the school and back to the woods. He'd drive back to the hotel and see what his bugs picked up, and then go from there. The next time he saw his target, he'd have some excuse for her explaining why he didn't show.

It would be simple. It would be easy.

Until Zach turned around and walked straight into someone.

Joe Solomon. Shit.

"I see Blackthorne's gotten sloppy," he said, eying Zach coldly. "You'd best come with me. _Quietly_."

_Notes – My PJO followers have gotten this speech a million times. When I get a review demanding faster updates, a part of my soul dies and I find it hard to work on the story. Praise is inspiration. Reviews are love. _


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